Tuesday Workout of the Week: Land and Sea!

Swim? Strength train? Why choose? Especially if you’re not a natural swimmer and you want to mix it up a bit so that you can still do some solid non-impact cardio while you’re waiting for the green light to start running again.

This is the prettiest “Land and Sea” photo I could find this morning. Gaze at it, drink in the beauty…and then get yourself to a pool for a kickass “land and sea” workout. (Image courtesy of khunaspix / FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

This is a workout inspired by my awesome running coaches – I call it “Land and Sea” because you’ll be moving between the water and the side of the pool for bodyweight strength training exercises. A lot. Bonus: if you’re working on getting more push-ups into your life (always a good thing), this workout will give you the chance to get bunches of them in…10 at a time.

Here’s the workout:

Warmup in the pool:

100 yards (four laps of a standard 25-yard pool) kicking with a kickboard

100 to 250 yards freestyle with pull buoy (your choice on the distance)

100 yards kicking

Main set:

POOL: 100 yards freestyle

POOLSIDE: 10 really perfect push-ups – pay close attention to your form. Here’s a good video that shows all the basics of great push-up form.

REPEAT that set 8-10 times (your choice)

Cooldown:

100-200 yards kicking

That’s all there is to it. Your arms will be screaming during those last few freestyle sets. As my spin instructor likes to say, those effort sets are where we get stronger. If you want to improve, you’ve got to push yourself. This is a workout where you can definitely push yourself.

Yesterday’s #Every48 workout: A really fabulous SPIN class with my absolute favorite instructor. Everyone should have a favorite instructor for a class. Mine makes sure we get a huge, incredible workout in. Great times.